Automatic controller.



G. B. DOWNS.

AUTOMATIC CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. 1915.

1 378,6 1 O Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

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G. B. DOWNS.

Autommc CONTROLLER. APPLICATION FILED M'ARQIB, 1915.

1 ,278,6 1 0. Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

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G. B. DOWNS.

AUTOMATIC CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. s. 1915.

1,278,610. Patented Sept. 10,1918.

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G. B. DOWNS.

AUTOMATIC CONTROLLER.-

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. 1915.

. 1,278,610. PatentedSept. 10,1918.

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Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

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GARRETT B. DOWNS, or MAUoHoHUNK, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent. i Patented Sept, 10,1918.

Application filed March 6, 1915. Serial No. 12,577.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GARRETT B. Downs, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica,

residing at -Mauch Chunk, in the county of production of a simple andefiicient means T for causing the direct or main line current to passthrough the entire resistance at each time the current is cut in ordesired to pass through the driving motors. I

Other objects and advantages of thepresent invention will appearthroughout the following specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings 2 Figure 1 is a top plan view of thecontroller showing the manner of attaching the contact box thereto. I

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the controller box. 9 I r Fig. 3 is avertical section through the controller box. p i

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the controller box taken on line 14ofFig. 2. V Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 5--5 of Fig.2.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic View of the electrical circuits involved inconnection with the present one series controller.

Fig. 7 is an end view of the starting mag net and a portion of thecontroller box.

Fig. 8 is an end view of the lower end of the controller box.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of one of the pivot switches used inconnection with the presentinvention for cutting the resistance in andout.

Fig. 10 is a transverse section taken on.

line 1010, of Fig. 3.

Fig. 11 is a detail perspective of the con tact block carried by one endof the controller box, and which is adapted to be electrically connectedto the operating motor for the contact box.

Fig. 12 is a detail perspective of a type of main contact switch whichmay be used in connection with the present invention. v

, Fig. 13 is a longitudinal section through the contactbox.

Fig. 14 is'a front box. i

Fig. 15 is a perspective View of one ofthe contact arms. I

Fig. 16 is a section taken through the contact arm support, which.contact arm is adapted to close the circuit thereby causing the currentto pass through the contact box motor.

Figfl'? is a longitudinal section through the rear end of the contactarm which'is adapted to close the circuit through the contact boxoperating motor showing the manner in which the same is connected to thelast magnet cut-out-arm.

.By referring to the drawings it will be seen that 1 designates theframe of the controller box which is provided along the bottom" thereofwith a plurality of contact sockets indicated by the numerals 2,3, 4-, 5

and 6 respectively. guiding rack '7 is supported upon the frame 1 asclearly. illustrated in Fig. 2, and a plurality of vertically extendingarms 8 pass through the I rack 7.21s clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings. Thearms S carry coil springs 9, which coil springs areheld at their proper tension by means of the collars 10. Anna tureplates 11 are carried'bythe upper ends of the arms 8 and are adapted tobe attracted by means of the magnets 12 as illustrated clearly in Fig. 2of the drawings.

The arms 8 pivotally engage the contact bars 13 and are adapted to 'movethe contact bars 13 into and out of engagement with the respectivecontacts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Each bar 13 is provided with a contact lip 14for thepurpose of constituting an efiicient contact. The bars 13 arepivotally supported at their rear ends upon the brackets 15,whichbrackets are provided with binding posts 16 for the purpose ofallow ing the wires 17 to be secured thereto, said wire passing from themagnets 12 as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings.Themagnets 12 aresupported upon an intermediate platform 18 and havetheir upper ends engaging the'top plate 19 of the frame 1.

Five contact blocks 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24' elevation of the contacttrated in Fig. 2, and these contact blocks are adapted to receive thecut-in switches 25, which switches are pivotally mounted upon thebrackets 26 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4 f the drawings. An armatureplate 27 is carried by each of the cut-in switches 25, and thesearmature plates are adapted to be attracted by the magnets 12 when saidmagnets are energized. A coil spring 28 is interposed between the bridge29 carried by the top plate 19 and the rear end of each cut-in switch 25for the purpose of normally holding the contact point 30 of the cut-inswitch 25 out of engagement with the contact blocks or plates to 24.

A distributing bar 31 is secured to the rear face of the top plate 19,and each of the cut-in switches is electrically connected thereto bymeans of a wire-32. This connec tion is clearly shown in thediagrammatic view of Fig. 6. A high resistance wire 31 is connected tothe contact 6 and the distributing bar 31.

A starting magnet 33 is carried by one end of the frame 1 and is mountedwithin a casing 34 as clearly illustrated in detail in Fig. 7. Apivotally mounted contact arm 35 is secured to the frame 34 and isadapted to be thrown into engagement with the contact points 36 carriedby the frame 34. A coil spring 37 is secured to the frame 34 and is alsosecured to the rear end of the contact arm 35 so as to hold the same outof engagement with the contact points 36 formed upon the casing 34. Themagnet 33 is electrically connected to one of the confacts 6 by means ofa wire 38, and the mag-.

net in turn is connected to the contact plate 36 by means of the wire39. This contact point v36 is in turn electrically connected to acontact box 40, hereinafter more fully described, by means of a wire 41.

A motor contact switch 42 is pivotally secured to the opposite end ofthe frame 1 upon a bracket 43, and this contact switch 42 is adapted toengage the contact points 44, which points are secured to the top of theframe 1 and are electrically connected to a motor 45 by means of a wire46see diagram Fig. 6and this motor 45 is adapted to actuate the contactboX 40 above referred to and hereinafter more fully described. The motor45 is grounded through a wire 47 illustrated in the diagram in Fig. 6.

The construction and operation of the contact box is described asfollows The contact box 40 carries a trip roller 48 having a pluralityof knobs 49 properly arranged thereon for the purpose of raising thecontact arms 50 at their proper time. The contact arms 50 are arrangedin proper number to correspond with the contact arms 57 upon thecontroller box, and these contact arms 50 are pivotally secured upon thesup porting shaft illustrated clearly in Fig. 13.

These contact arms are connected to a bridge bar 52 by means of thespring metallic strips 53, and are electrically connected to a wire 54clearly illustrated in Fig. 13 of the drawings. Each contact arm 50 isprovided with a contact lug 55, which lug is adapted to engage thecontact lug 56 of the spring contact arm 7, this contact arm 57 beingconnected to a wire which passes through one of the contacts 20 to 24inclusive or the contacts or contact points 36 and 36 of the startingmagnet 33. The roller 48 is connected to the motor 45 by means of areduction gear 58 for the purpose of driving the roller 48. It should beunderstood that the contact box 40 is provided with a plurality ofbinding posts placed thereon which will be designated by the propernumerals in the following description with respect to the electricalwiring connection more clearly disclosed in the diagrammatic viewillustrated in Fig. 6.

Referring now to the diagrammatic View in Fig. 6 which discloses theelectrical circuit involved in connection with the controller, it willbe seen that the distributing bar 31 is electrically .connected at oneend to the contact point 59 of the contact box 40 by means of a wire 60,and that the wire 41 is connected to a companion contact point 61. ItWill, therefore, be seen that as the arm 50, which is adapted to closethe circuit through the contact points 61 and 59 is raised, thecontactis closed between these points and that a circuit will pass downfrom the main line 62 through the trolley pole or underground connection63 through the main switch 64 which has been closed, through the wire 65through the distributing bar 31 through the wire 60, contacts 59 and 61through the wire 41 through the contact 36 through the wire 39, startingmagnet 33 through the wire 38 through the contact plate 6 through thegrids 66, 67, 68 and 69 through motor and through the ground wirepreferably the wheels of the vehicle 96 through the ground. Vhen thecontroller motor circuit is closed by means of the snap switch, it willbe seen that the current will also pass through the box 71 whichcontains the snap switch and other mechanism suitable for such a box,through the wire 72 through the arm. 42 throughthe contacts 73 throughthe wire 46 to the motor 45 through the ground wire 47 to the ground.The motor 45, of course, actuates the contact box in order that thecircuit may be closed through the contact points 59 and 61. After thestarting magnet has been actuated so as to close the circuit across thecont-act points 36 and 36 and when the contact roller 48 is rotated tothe position desired so as to close the circuit through the contacts 74and 75, the current will pass from the distributing bar 31 throughthecontact arm 35 and the contact point 6 and at the same time close thecontact across the contact plates 24 and the first contact arm 25.Uponthe continuation of the rotation of the contact roller 48, thecircuit will be closed between the contact points 79 and Will then passfrom the distributing bar 31 through the first contact arm 25 throughthe contact point 24 through the wire 80 through thewire 81 through thecontact point 23 through the wire 82 to the second magnet 12 through thewire '83 to the second bar or cut-1n switch 13 and through the grids 67to 69 inelusive and down through the wire 96. This operation willcontinue until the magnets are step by step energized until the lastmagnet 12 is energized, whereupon the current will pass from thedistributing bar 31 down through the next to the last contact arm 25down through the contact point 21 through the wire 90 through thecontact points 91 through the wire 92 through the contact.

point 20 through the wire 93 to the last magnet 12 through the wire 94through the last bar or cut-in switch 13through the wire 96 to the motorthence to the ground. A contact point 20 is placed opposite the contactpoint 20 and a contact point 24 is placed opposite the contact point 24as shown in Fig. 6. The last magnet 12 being energized will draw thecontact 25 downwardly be tween the contact points 20 and 20 by means ofthe last contact arm 25 being thrown into engagement therewith and causethe current to pass down through the wire 94 through the switch 94 tothe driving motor 95 to the ground through the wire 96. The arm 25 beingattracted, the arm 42 will be drawn out of contact with the contactpoints 73, thereby cutting off the operation of the motor 45.

The main switch 64 may, of course, be.

formed of any suitable construction, but for the purpose of illustrationa contact point 97 has been employed to which the wire is attached, andthis contact point 97 is adapted to be engaged by a plunger 98, whichplunger is in turn connected to the wire 99 illustrated clearly in Figs.12 and 6.

It should be understood that should the current be accidentally cut off,all of the contacts will assume their normal positions, and in order toagain throw the direct or main line current into the operating motor, itwill be necessary for the controller box to go through the sameoperation as that above described, that is to say the step by step cutinoperation of the electro-magnets.

By carefully considering Fig; 6, it will be seen that a directconnection is made between the bar 31 and the contact 6. This directconnection, however,'is made by means of a resistance wire 31 andoperates as follows: After the main switch 64 is thrown to an operativeposition, the currentflows through the wire 65, through the-bar 31,through the wire 31 and connecting bar 31 to the'c'ontact 6, through thecontact 6, through the resistance grids 66, 67 68 and 69 in series witheach other, through the last fixed contact binding post 15, through thewire 94 to i the switch 94, through the wire 94, through the motor 95,through the wire 96 to the ground. i The contact box'also' set inoperation by the switch 71 through the wire 72, through the contact 73,through the wire 46 to the contact box and motor 45, through the wire 47to the ground, will bring the contacts 59 and 61 connected to the wire60 from the bar 31 and wire 41 to motor side of contact 36 of startingmagnet 33 into engagement causing enough current to flow throughthestarting magnet 33 to energize it sufficiently to pull its armature.into place and close the contact points 36 and 36 which in turn energizethe wire 7 6, which operation continues until all the magnets areenergized.

In brief, the explanation covering the operation of the controlmechanism is simply that the wire connecting bar 31 and contact 6 iscomposed-of a resistance material known as the resistance wire and is ofsufficient resistance to give the current an easier path 9 through thestarting magnet 33 than through the w1re 31 with just enough magnetismto hold the armature in contact after the contact box has thrown themagnet '33 in circuit. It, of course, should be understood that thiswire 31 should not carry too much resistance which would be likely tocausea noticecontact arms adapted to be thrown into engagement with saidcontact points, means for normally holding said contact arms out ofengagement with said contact points, a distributing barelectricallyconnected to said contact arms for supplying current to saidarms, each magnet being electrically connected to one of said contactpoints, resistance means carried by said frame, a plurality of plungerssupported by said frame and operated by said magnets, a plurality ofresistance contact bars mounted upon said frame and operated by saidplungers, said members carried by said frame, magnetic means carried bysaid frame below said contact members for operating said contact membersas said magnetic means is energized, distributing means electricallyconnected to said contact members, contacts adapted to be engaged bysaid contact members, said magnetic means being electrically connectedto said contacts, resistance means carried by said frame below saidcontact members, means for electrically connecting said resistance meanswith said magnetic means, means for closing a circuit through saidresistanc means, said magnetic means operating said closing means toopen the circuit through said resistance means, and means forelectrically connecting said distributing means and said resistance.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

GARRETT B. DOlVN S.

Witnesses JAMES RICHMOND, STANTON S. DOWNS.

Copies of thin patent may be obtained to: five cent: each, by addressingthe Gomminioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G.

